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Is LeBron James recruiting Kevin Durant to join the Lakers?

By Tony Pesta

LAS VEGAS, NV- OCTOBER 10: Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors and LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers share a moment during a pre-season game on October 10, 2018 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV- OCTOBER 10: Kevin Durant #35 of the Golden State Warriors and LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers share a moment during a pre-season game on October 10, 2018 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The 2019 NBA All-Star draft was televised as LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo selected their teams. Did James intentionally draft Kevin Durant first as a way of persuading him to join the Lakers?

It’s no secret that LeBron James is in a constant game of cat and mouse with the rest of the NBA. James has been relentlessly recruiting All-Star players to join him. Was his decision to draft Kevin Durant first overall for his All-Star team just another method of slighting the system and recruiting more talent?

James is known for skating on thin ice when attracting talent to join his team. Most recently he has been under fire as countless reports emerge that Anthony Davis, who has the same agent as LeBron, is demanding to be traded and will only re-sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Whether James is trying to recruit superstar players to his team isn’t a debate. It’s obvious that LeBron wants to play with other stars, and who could blame him? The superteam trend has been around for a long time and James is not the only guy in the league looking to join forces with other elite players.

Since this is such common knowledge, it is almost comical that James chose to draft four players that are set to become free agents this Summer. Among the list of players drafted by James are Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson.

James strategy became extremely obvious as the draft continued. Once LeBron selected Anthony Davis as his first reserve choice, Giannis Antetokounmpo, the captain of the Eastern team, swiftly commented: “Isn’t that tampering?”.

Of course, this was a light-hearted joke from the greek freak, but he may actually have been on to something. While drafting strictly upcoming free agents isn’t against the rules, James is certainly stretching his absolute power to help his chances of gaining an All-Star teammate.

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that James will be using the weekend as a way to one-on-one recruit players. Will he manage to have an effect on Durant? This is the second season in a row in which James drafted KD with the first pick. When asked about this, Durant simply responded: “What else is he supposed to do?”.

Whether or not James subtle moves to recruit stars to Los Angeles will work or not remains to be seen. Regardless, this certainly provides a great deal of entertainment for fans everywhere.

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